Cumbrian coal mine planning permission ruled unlawful by High Court
The High Court has ruled that the approval of planning permission for a new coal mine in Cumbria was unlawful.
Posted on 13 September 2024
The judgment was given on Friday 13 September 2024 in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court judgment in Finch v Surrey County Council, which ruled that emissions from burning fossil fuels must be considered in the environmental impact assessment process for planning applications for new extraction projects.
In light of Finch, the government withdrew its defence of the proposed coal mine in Cumbria, but the developer, West Cumbria Mining, continued to defend the decision to approve planning permission for the mine.
However today the High Court ruled in favour of Friends of the Earth and fellow claimants South Lakes Action on Climate Change, who brought two separate challenges.
The judge found:
“Taking into account the common ground that the burning of the Whitehaven coal is an inevitable consequence of its extraction from the mine, in my judgment it is plain, following the decision of the Supreme Court in Finch, that the GHG emissions from that combustion are significant likely indirect effects of the project the subject of the planning application. Accordingly, the 2011 Regulations required WCM’s ES and the EIA process to assess those emissions and their implications. The Secretary of State was obliged to take into account that environmental information (including the GHG emissions from combustion of the Whitehaven coal) before deciding whether or not to grant planning permission on the application.”
Friends of the Earth was represented by the environment team at Leigh Day in its challenge to the grant of planning permission for the mine, approved in December 2022 by the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove.
Before the case could be heard at the High Court in July, the government announced that it would no longer be defending the mine against the legal challenges. Newly appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, said there had been an “error in law” in the decision to grant planning permission for the project.
Her statement followed the Supreme Court judgment which ruled in favour of Sarah Finch of Weald Action Group, who was represented by Leigh Day, on the assessment of fossil fuel emissions from mining and drilling projects. The judgment ruled that planning inspectors would now have to include the impact of downstream emissions from the burning of the fossil fuels produced by extraction projects when assessing the environmental impact of these developments.
This judgment has since led to wins for other legal challenges against fossil fuel extraction projects, with the decision to allow oil production in Biscathorpe, Lincolnshire, being overturned at the start of July.
The decision to quash planning permission approval now means that the government will have to reconsider whether to allow the mine to be built.
Friends of the Earth are represented by solicitors Rowan Smith and Julia Eriksen from Leigh Day's environment team. Rowan Smith said:
“Our client is delighted that planning permission for the new coal mine in Cumbria has been overturned in the High Court. This follows the government's decision not to defend the development, which was made in light of the landmark Finch judgment from the Supreme Court in June. This judgment made it clear that the impact of the inevitable release of emissions from burning fossil fuels must be assessed before they are extracted. We are glad to see the continued departure from the reliance on fossil fuels being upheld in the courts.”
Rowan Smith
Rowan Smith is a senior associate solicitor in the human rights department.
Julia Eriksen
Julia is an associate solicitor in the human rights team
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